Smile
by pdljmpr6
Summary: Sometimes all we can do is smile, whether or not we want to. Teamfic, Eliotwhump, Friendship, all that good stuff. Even a hint of Eliot/Parker if that's your thing.


**A/N:** So this was written for _**vickyloka**_, she requested it. It's inspired by the song Smile, which has been done by many people including Charlie Chaplin. **_vickyloka _**likes the version done by the glee cast, I like the one done by Natalie Cole but it's all relative. The sentiment of the song is the same. I used one verse as inspiration for each section and the line is listed at the beginning in italics. Enjoy - pj

**Disclaimer**: No copyright infringement intended, not mine. Belong to TNT and the like. Song not mine, but it is a good'n.

---

_Smile though your heart is aching_

Sophie was used to smiling when she wanted to cry. She had been doing it since she was little, when her first acting job was that of a girl who's body didn't protest every single movement she made. She laughed and ran on the playground and no one ever suspected she didn't want to go home.

So she put on a happy face for the Duke of Runseburg with surprising ease, even as the sound of flesh connecting with flesh, and grunts of pain and surprise sounded in her ear.

She laughed at his jokes without missing a beat when Nate and Hardisons' and Parker's panicked voices tripped over one another, demanding to know what was happening.

She kept her cover with sparkling eyes and dazzling smiles when Eliot's breathing grew ragged and shallow and the rest of the team was stunned into silence.

"Of Course, Duke Marseille, I would love to dance."

---

_Smile even though it's breaking_

Hardison's nana had been crazy. Huge heart and open arms but certifiably insane, he was sure. Aside from having three foster children whom she loved dearly and never let them forget it, she had two rescued cats, one three legged dog, two birds that couldn't fly and a blind rat. All nana ever wanted to do was care for the wounded and protect the weak.

And more than that she wanted her boys to grow up well adjusted and confident.

So she gave them rules. Never sneeze when you're hiding, never steal from a friend and never, under any circumstances, do you smile when you lie.

Well Nana had been wrong about that last one.

But then, she hadn't meant if you were trying to con someone.

So when Hardison slipped on his blue windbreaker with BPD emblazoned on the back with yellow block letters, he slipped on aviator sunglasses, a very good imitation badge and a smile along with it.

Because it put the other officers at ease and made them trust him. Made it easier to convince them that he didn't give a damn about the long haired man being loaded into the back of an ambulance. That he was doing them a favor by taking him off their hands. Saving them paperwork and all that.

He kept up the clever banter and made them laugh because then they wouldn't notice that he couldn't stand the sight of the blood on the warehouse floor and that his smiles did not reach his eyes.

---

_If there are clouds in the sky, you'll get by_

Parker didn't like emotions in general. Sadness was uncomfortable, she felt happy at the wrong times and anger was too easy. So, usually, she tried to keep all emotion off her face, regarding the world with an almost disturbing apathy that made most people shake their heads at her.

But Eliot once told her she had a nice smile. He said it made her look normal. And while she would have dismissed it as one of those back handed, dry witted compliments he liked to dish out, there was something blinding and honest in his eyes at that moment that made her think maybe he meant it different. His face softened in a way she didn't usually see and he tilted his head at her, like all he could see was her.

She made an effort to smile when he was around a lot more after that.

So she lay in the air duct that led into Eliot's room at the hospital, needing to be close to him even when visiting hours were over, and whispered to Bunny who was contentedly tucked into Eliot's arm, and smiled for all she was worth.

---

_If you smile through your fear and sorrow_

Nate had many different smiles.

He had a sleazy smile for smart marks and a psychotic smile for dumb ones. An agitated smile for jobs that were on their way south but he was still trying to rally the troops into believing they could pull it off. An indulgent smile for when he was in a good mood and the team was hanging around his apartment, and a gentle smile for the rare occasion when he had to talk to kids. But he hadn't smiled charmingly in years. Hadn't needed to, hadn't wanted to.

But he tried though, this time, because he couldn't get his mind clear enough to make a pass at running a con to get to Eliot's room. He guessed it must have worked, or maybe the nurse could see the fear and worry in his eyes, because she gave him a curt nod and waved him into the room, reminding him, not unkindly, that visiting hours would be over in five minutes.

He nodded. He knew that.

It had been on purpose, coming in so late. He'd been sitting outside in his car for three hours, watching the team flow in and out a few different times with food. They'd all known he was there, sitting in his black sports car a few spaces from the door, but hadn't looked at him, allowing him to suffer his weakness in private.

Nate looked over at Eliot, sitting stone still in the bed. He glanced briefly at the stuffed animal in his arms, but didn't pay it much more attention than that, assuming it was either Parker or Sophie's doing. Probably Parker, since Sophie would have bought him a new one and that bunny was definitely a few decades old. Come to think of it, Sam had had an animal like that.

_Sam_.

He reached up and rubbed his face, feeling a day's worth of stubble on his palms. _God _he hated hospitals.

"Hey, uh, Eliot," he said quietly, dropping his hands to give the hitter a good look for the first time. Bruises, swelling, cuts, scars. Nothing he hadn't seen before. Nothing they hadn't dealt with before. He would be okay in a few hours. Nate believed that. A blow to the head was nothing Eliot Spencer couldn't handle.

Even if he did look small and pale and _so young_ lying there in the hospital bed.

Everything would be fine.

"Hey, listen, sorry for not coming until now but uh, but you know me and hospitals so…" he trailed off, realizing Eliot would not demand an explanation from him, conscious or not, "Well, anyway I uh, wanted to make sure I came in. I wanted to say," he hesitated and shifted on his feet, and looked at the floor.

"Well I wanted to say," his voice dropped another octave as he brought his eyes back up to the battered hitter's face, "you have to wake up, okay? You, uh, you have to wake up because...well, because the team needs you. No one can do what you do and I'm-I'm not just talking about the hitting, Eliot," he shifted and saw the nurse come and stand at the door.

He nodded at her impatient look, "okay, I'm gonna just..." he turned and stated to leave, but paused at the doorway and glanced back over his shoulder at Eliot's face, relaxed in a drug induced sleep.

"You've got to walk up, Eliot," he said quietly, "I don't need another reason to hate hospitals." He turned around and sent a small, strange smile to the hitter, then nodded once as if an agreement had been made, and left.

---

_Smile and maybe tomorrow_

The next day found the entire team had infiltrated room 308 at County General Hospital. Sophie had arrived at the tick of eight when visiting hours started and was a bit startled to see Parker already there, curled up at the foot of the bed, staring at Eliot.

Surprised, but not, because it was Parker, and the grifter nodded silently at her before she took up a spot in the chair by the window, leaning back against the wall to close her eyes and wrap her hands around her coffee. She had probably not slept the night before.

A half hour later brought Hardison, and Hardison brought breakfast burritos and coffee. The coffee didn't last, the burritos were left untouched.

Sophie started calling Nate at ten, but didn't receive an answer until noon.

"You should be here, Nate," she looked over at Eliot, who'd begun stirring but hadn't yet woken completely. He would growl and he would complain later, but it was important they all be there when he woke, important he know he was among friends. Sometimes Nate's was the only voice that could cut through the paranoia and drug-induced haze to get the hitter to calm down enough for the hospital staff not to force him into restraints.

"He needs you," she said, and then added quietly, "we all do."

Nate arrived twenty minutes later and, for once, Sophie didn't comment on his dark glasses and rumpled clothing. She couldn't honestly blame him for drinking last night.

She'd done the same.

Parker stayed perched at the foot of Eliot's bed, no amount of prying from Sophie or orders from Nate could make her move. It was because of her close proximity to Eliot that she was the first to notice the man was waking.

Eliot's body tensed. That was how she knew he was truly awake and not just shifting in his sleep and staying under. He always got tense, getting his bearings and cataloging his injuries, before he opened his eyes.

She could tell when he identified where he was too, because his brow furrowed just slightly. Eliot didn't like hospitals. And when all his various injuries became known, his jaw clenched. She would have to ask that the nurse to up his morphine drip the next time she came in.

At a single world, the rest of the team had gathered around.

Eliot opened his eyes and blinked a few times, bringing blurry, dark figures into focus.

He didn't remember what had happened, assumed they'd been on a job and something had gone wrong because that was usually what landed him in hospitals. He wasn't sure what all of his pain meant just yet or how long he'd been asleep.

And in that moment, he didn't care.

Because when he opened his eyes his team was standing there. Hardison was nodding, eyes too bright but happy. Sophie was fighting tears, her skin porcelain white and perfect despite being sans makeup. Parker was leaning over his body, looking discerning and smiling too wide. Nate was touching his arm, hung over but sober, his eyes sharp and clear.

Eliot let his eyes fall shut again, knowing all he needed to in that moment.

His team was there. Alive. Safe.

And Eliot smiled as the blackness took him once more.

_You'll see the sun come shining through  
If you just smile_

---

_END__ - So that was that. I'm really trying to space out my fics to last through to the next season but I think my love of reviews will not allow it! lol!! :)  
_


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